A Very Jagged Take-Down
by quicksilversquared
Summary: Marinette knows Jagged Stone, everyone knows that. She's his favorite niece, never mind the fact that they aren't actually related. And Jagged Stone is really famous, the exact kind of person that Lila loves claiming connections to. That was never going to end the way Lila wanted it to. (a collection of one-shots)
1. Dissonant Chord

Jagged Stone could admit that sometimes, he was a little bit oblivious to how other people were feeling. He was a little too boisterous, too distractible, too caught up in his own thoughts and ideas and plans. It caused problems, sometimes- Jagged had butted heads with more record managers than he cared to think about because his artistic vision differed from theirs, and sometimes he didn't come off particularly well in interviews because he was too busy thinking about other things to notice an interviewer trying to ask a different question- but he was _working_ on it, and if he was oblivious to something, well, he _did_ have Penny to clue him in.

Still, Jagged Stone _had_ been trying to improve. Penny had been pretty stressed out on several occasions recently, and he had wanted to ease some of her load by being at least a _little _more observant. He had thought that he was doing really well.

Considering that he had apparently missed his niece's upset mood during his last visit to commission a stage outfit from her, he apparently wasn't doing as well as he wanted to.

"What do you mean, she was off?" Jagged Stone implored Penny again. "Penny, if I'm going to learn..."

"She was hiding it pretty well, to be fair," Penny assured him. "Especially when you were looking. But when your back was turned, she looked kind of stressed."

Jagged Stone frowned. _That_ wasn't a good thing! Maybe he could help, though. "Do you know what she was upset about?"

"Do I- _no_, Jagged, I cannot figure out what people are upset about by looking at their body language!" Penny exclaimed, clearly exasperated. "And I didn't want to pry, not when she was trying to be professional with coming up with ideas for your commission."

Jagged Stone considered that. Then he perked up. "Do you think that you, just maybe, could sneakily bring it up with Marinette when you go over with my measurements tomorrow? If I can help my niece with anything, I want to!"

"Yes, yes, I can try," Penny promised, and then she sighed, rolling her eyes. "And we've _talked_ about this, Jagged Stone. Marinette is _not_ your niece."

"Who says that she isn't?" Jagged Stone demanded, planting his fists on his hips. "My niece in rock-n-roll! Her CD cover and glasses and the songs they inspired put me back at the top of the charts. I am an artist, she's an artist- family in actually kickass artistry!"

He didn't understand why Penny was rolling her eyes. _Really_.

* * *

Penny returned the next day with several design sketches and barely hidden anger bubbling away under her professional demeanor. Jagged Stone picked up on it right away, ushering Penny into their room at the Grand Paris and getting her settled with a platter of her favorite chocolates.

He was rather proud of himself for that, really. He was learning! He hadn't missed Penny's stress!

"I found out what happened," Penny told him, inhaling a chocolate in one bite. She chewed angrily, then swallowed. "A week before we went over for brainstorming, Marinette got expelled from her school after getting framed for cheating, thief, and hurting another student. The other student walked back on her claims the next day," Penny added hastily before Jagged Stone could grab his guitar and storm over to Dupont to bash their blundering principal over the head. He hadn't been impressed by the man the one time- or was it two times, he really couldn't remember- that they had met, and clearly there was a reason for that. "And her expulsion was retracted. But she's still facing some skepticism from her teachers and classmates over the whole thing."

"Who would want to frame _Marinette?_" Jagged Stone demanded, thoroughly baffled. "Marinette is fantastic! They'd have to be a cruel, heartless soul to do such a thing."

"Yeah, well, that's kind of what this girl sounds like, honestly." Penny took another angry bite. "Marinette was telling me _all_ about her. It's the daughter of a diplomat- or that's what she claims, at least- who keeps making up all of these stories about things she's done and people she's met. Marinette is one of the only people who doesn't believe a word she says, and the only one willing to call Lila out."

Jagged Stone nodded in approval. "Calling out bullies and liars is _very_ rock and roll!"

"Less so when it gets her framed and expelled, but yes." Penny flopped back in her chair, then perked back up. "Something Marinette said- well, it sounded almost as though the liar girl was claiming connections to _you_. She stopped herself before I could get much more out of her, though."

He nearly exploded with indignation at that. "The liar girl is trying to use _me_ to boost her status? How _dare_ she! And going after my niece while she does-"

Penny sighed in exasperation. "No matter how often you say it, Marinette isn't actually your niece-"

"I'm going to put a stop to this nonsense," Jagged Stone announced, surging to his feet as a surge of energy hit him. Maybe he wasn't going to be in Paris for the next couple of weeks because he was on tour, but, well, that just gave him time to _plan_. "No liar will use _my_ name to hurt Marinette! Now, if I can grab my computer-"

"We're meant to be heading to the train station to go to London in twenty minutes," Penny reminded him. "For a meeting in London with the new record company you were considering switching to."

"Of course! Penny, I would be _lost_ without you." Jagged beamed at her, then dashed across the room. "I can bring my computer on the train! Plenty of time to think there, no problem. We have a private compartment, so I won't even be interrupted!"

Behind him, Penny could only sigh.

* * *

It wasn't hard to find more information on the liar in Marinette's class. All it had taken was going to Marinette's social media, going to her Ladyblogger friend's page, and from there finding Alya's personal blog.

He felt a bit strange flipping through a teen girl's personal blog and it certainly wasn't something he would _ever_ do normally, but Jagged Stone was on a _mission_ and Alya's blog was a veritable _treasure_ _mine. _Not even three minutes after he first found the blog, Jagged Stone had learned who the liar girl in question was and had found several of the claims that she had made, all so absolutely _outrageous_ that Jagged Stone had to wonder how anyone believed them in the first place.

But outrageous or not, they had also given him an _idea_.

Lila had claimed that she had saved his cat, and that he had written a song for her in thanks. Now, he definitely wasn't going to be _thanking_ her for anything, but he could certainly write a song about her.

It wasn't going to be flattering, and it wasn't going to call Lila out by name- Penny had helpfully informed him that doing so would probably land him in legal trouble, even before he had been able to voice the idea (which was _super_ rock-n-roll, actually, that they were so much on the same wavelength!)- but the details that he was going to refer to, courtesy of the blog, would mean that anyone familiar with Lila would know _exactly _who he was referring to.

Jagged Stone already had some lyrics scribbled out on a sheet of paper and a couple bars of music to go with it, and it was going to be a _banging _song. Like, top-of-the-charts, _definitely_-on-the-radio, impossible-to-miss banging.

"The main problem I'm foreseeing here is that it takes _time_ to release a song," Penny reminded Jagged as she bundled him and Fang into a town car and then got in herself. "You need at least seven songs usually in an album, and then there's the studio time, you know that, and-"

"So it'll get released as a single for now," Jagged Stone told her, because _obviously_ he wasn't going to leave Marinette hanging for longer than he had to. What kind of uncle would he be if he did that? "Singles take less time! I can probably have a demo by the end of the week, and then if we can get a recording studio in any of the cities that we actually spend some time in, then I can get the tracks recorded and all ready for mixing and- oh!" Jagged froze, struck by the most _perfect_ idea. "If we can get Marinette to do the cover art for the single, that would be _perfect!_ Then she gets her bully taken down and some money besides- yes, I'll tell her about it right away and work around her schedule, Penny, I already know that- and I get some more awesome art!"

Penny rubbed her forehead, right between her eyebrows, but didn't protest further. "All right. But you _know_ that if you want a cover that'll go along with the single, Marinette needs some direction. I just don't know how you'll keep it all a surprise."

"She can get the background demo tracks and a prompt list of words," Jagged Stone told her at once, because he _had_ already considered that. He had been working on getting better at not leaving _all_ of the thinking and planning up to Penny, too, even if she hadn't quite gotten used to that yet. "That will help her come up with a cover. And look, I've already started!"

"I...see that."

By the time they had boarded the train and were halfway to London, Jagged had gotten the main part of the song written down. The lyrics just needed tweaking, the drums could probably be shaken up, and he wanted to add a few more backing tracks and play with some effects, but he had been _inspired_ and it showed.

"I'll check it against your other songs after the meeting and make sure that you're not accidentally borrowing from an old song," Penny told him as he enthusiastically tapped his pen against the seat of his chair, trying out different drum beats with the tune. "And then I suppose we can start work on demo tracks, if you're so determined to get this out fast."

Jagged Stone grinned. "That sounds _perfect_."

* * *

In what was surely Jagged Stone's fastest turnaround time ever, he was ready. The song was written, the demo tracks had been polished up into the final tracks and had been professionally recorded and mixed, Marinette had gotten the single's art done (and it was _amazing_, of course, somehow absolutely perfectly fitting the song even though Marinette hadn't heard the lyrics yet), and everything was ready, all within a month's time.

(His new record company was none too thrilled that he hadn't given them time to promote it, but, well, he was big enough to drop a new single out of nowhere and have it succeed, so did it really matter?)

And then it dropped Monday morning. By mid-morning Paris time, it had exploded all over the radio and thousands of people had bought it already. His new record label was applauding it as a huge success, all of their complaints about the lack of promotion forgotten, critics were already praising both the song and the cover art-

-and Jagged Stone didn't care. He was more focused on if the song had done its work and had gotten rid of Marinette's liar problem.

"You are _not_ allowed to call her up and beg to know what's going on," Penny instructed him sternly. "Marinette is in class right now, and you _know _that she'll reach out and keep you updated when she can. Now either sit down and stop pacing, or go give Fang a bath. Heaven knows that _that_ will keep you busy."

"Oh, I _suppose_." Fang deserved a bath after putting up with their most recent bout of traveling, after all. Travel grime was _ugh_, even on a crocodile. "But let me know as soon as Marinette texts! I won't be able to check my phone, since my hands will be all wet, but I wanna know!"

"I _promise_. Now go, shoo- you're distracting me!"

Jagged shooed.

* * *

Marinette had been a bit distracted all morning, and for once, it wasn't because of Adrien or her Guardian duties.

Ever since Jagged Stone had told her that he was going to be dropping a new single soon and asked her to do the art, Marinette had been looking forward to the song coming out. She didn't know what the song was about, exactly- Jagged Stone was being strangely cagey about getting any more specific about the lyrics- but he had sent along a basic demo track along with a few prompt words for her illustration and it sounded _amazing_. She could only imagine how awesome the final version- properly mixed, with all of the instruments ironed out and vocals and everything- would sound.

(And now it had some pretty awesome art to go along with it, if Marinette said so herself- dark, seething greens in the background stood in stark contrast to the trails of shimmery gold dust in the forefront. It was more abstract than some of her other covers, but Jagged Stone had proclaimed it the coolest thing ever and tossed her a bonus on top of the already-generous commission price, which was _amazing_.)

And then, right before lunch, Nino gave a shout of surprise.

"Jagged Stone just dropped a single!" Nino announced, waving his phone at everyone. "I didn't even know that he was thinking about releasing anything! Lila, did he tell you?"

"Well, yes, but he asked that I keep it secret," Lila said at once, pressing a hand to her chest. It was a common look on her, faux-humble in a sickly sweet way that made Marinette want to gag. "I even got to listen to it before it got released, and it's _fantastic_."

"This art is _sick!"_ Nino exclaimed. Marinette peered over his shoulder, and- yup, Nino was already in the process of buying it. "'_Not All That Glitters is Gold_\- man, I gotta get a poster of this art, I bet that the non-digital version actually _does_ glitter!"

Marinette hid her smile. It _did,_ actually.

"Yes, they're a _fantastic_ artist, aren't they?" Lila bragged. "They're a very private person, but I introduced them to Jagged Stone- I thought that he might want a _professional_ artist for this song."

All eyes shot to Marinette, waiting with bated breath to see her reaction. After a second, Lila gasped dramatically, hands flying to her mouth. "Oh! Not- not that there was anything wrong with the album cover _you_ did, Marinette, just that-"

"It's funny that you say all of that," Marinette said, her voice icy-cold. "Because _I_ did the cover art for Jagged's new song, and I have the art- _with_ all of the layers, in case you want to claim that I just downloaded it- _plus_ the in-progress demos that I sent to Jagged Stone, _plus_ the invoice for that commission to prove it."

The class went silent.

"And you didn't introduce me to Jagged Stone, he reached out to _me_," Marinette added on. "And I have the emails for that, too. So you can cut it out with the lies now."

"Oh, silly me, I must have gotten the single mixed up with Jagged's next _full_ album," Lila tittered hastily. "The professional that I recommended to him must be doing the full album, and I just misunderstood."

Marinette was pleased to see that this time, not everyone looked entirely convinced.

"Ms. Bustier, can we please listen to Jagged Stone's new song?" Nino asked as their teacher entered the classroom, shoving his hair up into the air. "Please? Marinette did the art, and Lila's already heard it because she's friends with Jagged!"

"Well, I suppose you can put it on while I get the lesson set up and collect the homework," Ms. Bustier said with a laugh. "That's so exciting, you two! Nino, you know how to connect to the room's speakers so that we can all hear it? At a _reasonable_ volume," she added hastily as Nino got up. "If we get any more noise complaints, then we won't be allowed to have any music on for events for the rest of the school year."

"Got it, Ms. Bustier!"

"I can't believe that you got to do another cover for Jagged Stone!" Alya said excitedly as Nino hooked up his phone. "And you didn't say _anything!_"

"Of course not. Some of my commissions are secret-"

Marinette was cut off by the oh-so-familiar opening chords of Jagged's newest song, and she trailed off. The accompanying horns were new, and _definitely_ attention-catching and fantastic. Marinette's breath caught in her throat, already blown away.

And then the lyrics started.

At first, Marinette didn't really hear anything out of place. Then she caught a mention of _kittens on a runway_ and sat up straight. All around her, murmurs gave away that other people had heard the same thing and everybody sat up and listened as the song swung around into the chorus.

_'Not all that glitters is gold! Hiding behind lies that were told_

_A dollar-store gem trying to pass herself off as a diamond!_

_Claims of connections abound, but none of her stories are sound_

_A liar, through and through!_

Adrien spun around in his seat to look back at Marinette, just as Marinette realized what Jagged Stone had done and clapped her hands over her mouth in silent glee. He quirked an eyebrow at her, mouthing a silent _did you ask him to do this?_ and Marinette shook her head.

No, she hadn't asked. She _had_ mentioned Lila to Penny, though, after Penny had asked about why Marinette had been so down. Her parents had probably said more, if she was really being honest, and Penny had no doubt told Jagged Stone, who then came to the very logical and oh-so-Jagged conclusion that the best way to deal with the problem was by writing a call-out song. A call-out song that, by the sounds of it, included references to more than a few of Lila's lies, not just her ones concerning Jagged Stone, so there was no way to mistake _who_ the song was referring to.

She _definitely_ hadn't mentioned all of those to Penny.

In the back, Lila had gone white. More than a few classmates had turned around, sending her disgusted looks. Alya had frozen in her seat before whipping around, _murder_ in her gaze. Even Ms. Bustier was looking incredibly suspicious as she made the connection between the lyrics and all of the stories that Lila had told over the months.

Lila's reign of lies had come to a very abrupt end, heralded by the sound of horns.

"You didn't even know that he was going to do that, did you?" Adrien asked her as soon as the song came to an end. "You looked so surprised!"

"He didn't let me hear the lyrics at all!" Marinette exclaimed, and _wow_, now she knew why. She was honestly starting to feel teary, because Jagged Stone had written this song _for her, _because she had been upset after Lila's expulsion attempt, and she knew just how much work went into making a song, and it- this was _incredible._ "Or really anything beyond vague prompt words. I knew that he knew about Lila, because Penny asked why I was feeling down and I told her, but _this_..."

Marinette would have assumed that just bursting into class would be more Jagged's style, over-the-top and impulsive and _immediate_, but maybe he had just been too inspired by the topic and the idea of a song to think of that. And whether or not that was the intention, the song was so catchy, so bound to be popular, there was no way that Lila would be able to escape it. She would be hearing it on the car radio, playing in the train station and on the bus and in the mall. If Lila was on her own, she could leave, or turn it off. But if she was with classmates, or her _mom_\- assuming that her mom didn't actually know what Lila had been up to all this time- then Lila would have to sit and stew.

..._maaaybe_ that wasn't a great thing if she was going to be staying in Paris, but with any luck, it would drive Lila so mad that she would leave.

"That's one heck of a call-out by Jagged!" Kim cackled loudly, breaking through the muted muttering. "Wow, how ticked off did you have to make him for him to go out of his way to write and produce a song calling you out?"

"No, it's not what it looks like- I swear, he's just, uh..." Lila was floundering. There really was no easy way to get out of this, but clearly she was going to try anyway. "You know not all song lyrics are _literal!_ I _did_ save his cat, and he _did_ write a song for me, it's just that-"

"What's the name of the so-called song Jagged Stone wrote for you called, then?" Nino asked sarcastically. "'_Clinging to the coattails of fame without any dignity'?_"

Marinette choked on a laugh before hastily trying to hide it. Across the aisle, Chloe was far less subtle as she cackled in delight, clearly thrilled by Lila's messy downfall.

Marinette wasn't surprised. Chloe was _far_ less impressed by connections and tall tales than a lot of their peers, but she was _absolutely_ the sort of person to be bitter about how much attention Lila had been getting. It meant less attention on _Chloe_, and that just couldn't stand.

"Okay, class, _please_ settle down!" Ms. Bustier implored. She was glancing around the classroom, clearly trying to figure out a path forward. "Ah, Lila, let's step out to talk to the principal and call your mom."

"No, but a song from a rock star is hardly considered any sort of reliable source, surely!" Lila cried, still not willing to give up and come quietly. "He's met _thousands_ of people, why would everybody assume that he's talking about a real person? That he's talking about _me?_"

"Lila. _Now._"

Finally looking properly wilted, Lila gathered up all of her things in a rush, stuffing them roughly in her bag before heading out the door in front of Ms. Bustier. All around Marinette, whispers started up, some people comparing notes on stories Lila had told and finally (FINALLY) looking them up, others looking up the lyrics to the song. Marinette ignored them all, fumbling for her phone and pulling up Jagged Stone's contact number.

Seriously, how was she supposed to thank him? He had gone to so much work, gone so far out of his way, just for _her_. Because it _was_ for her, Marinette knew that. Jagged Stone had plenty of over-eager fans that sometimes went overboard with things, and of course there were tabloids that loved to make up stories about him. Jagged Stone ignored all of them the best he could- well, until they got _too_ intrusive, at least, like that one photographer- instead of slapping back. There was no reason for him to go out of his way just for Lila, when she looked at it that way. Lila and her lies wouldn't even _appear_ on Jagged Stone's radar, if it weren't for Marinette. But that hadn't made a difference to Jagged.

Seriously. _Best. Uncle. Ever_.

(Well. Best _not-technically-an-uncle_ ever. After all, Penny always insisted that Jagged Stone couldn't just _adopt_ Marinette as his niece, no matter how much he wanted to.)

With shaky fingers and happy tears blurring her vision, Marinette texted a quick thank-you to Jagged, hoping that he could feel all of her gratitude through the few simple words that she managed to pull together. Without the constant threats from Lila hanging over her head- either because Lila would be gone or because she would be so thoroughly discredited by everyone that she would be powerless- and without having to constantly be at odds with most of her friends about Lila and her lies, Marinette's days at school would be _much_ more enjoyable and relaxed.

* * *

Penny glanced at Jagged Stone's phone for the fifty-seventh time in an hour and a half. His phone kept lighting up with all sorts of messages- from his new producers, from celebrity and non-celebrity friends alike, from his family members- and she had kept checking it, noting messages that needed to be responded to as she did.

It was _exhausting_, especially since Penny had her own correspondence to attend to- questions about integrating the new song into set lists, requests for interviews about the new song, and an ongoing back-and-forth with Jagged Stone's lawyer to make sure that he wasn't going to get in legal trouble for the song (since no names were mentioned, he was in the clear as long as he didn't call out Lila during any interviews, but she just wanted to be prepared). Frankly, Penny was tempted to put Jagged's phone on mute and just ignore it for a bit before checking to see if Marinette had reached out. After all, she would be in school right now, so the likelihood of Marinette and her classmates being able to listen to the song before lunch was, well, rather low-

_Message from: Marinette Dupain-Cheng_

-but Penny supposed that it wasn't _entirely_ impossible.

"Message from Marinette!" Penny called out, and there was a yelp and a clatter as Jagged Stone dropped the broom he was using to scrub Fang to dash out to the main room and snatch up his phone. He grinned at the message, whooping in triumph.

"They listened to it in class and all of her classmates figured it out right away!" Jagged announced. "And the liar girl got carted off to the principal's office and her mother is being called, so she's dealt with. _Score!_"

"Yes, good job," Penny told him, resigned to hearing about it for the next month, at least. Jagged Stone was going to be too caught up in the euphoria of his success to be much use, so she would have to deal with all of the setting up appointments. "Your idea worked, Marinette's bully has been dealt with. Can you relax now?"

Jagged didn't seem to hear her. "You know what, I'm going to call up room service and we can all have a feast to celebrate! And- oh, I should text Marinette back, 'cause I wanna get any more updates! I just want to make sure that the little eel doesn't manage to slither out of punishment again. I doubt even she can get out of it now, but I gotta follow through!"

Penny could only sigh as Jagged Stone bounced away across the room. As he went, Penny could hear him singing under his breath.

_Tea with a prince, talking about charity_

_She's too kind, too good to be_

_Working to save the world, she always tries_

_Except everything she says are self-serving lies!_

_Not all that glitters is gold! Hiding behind lies that were told_

_A dollar-store gem trying to pass herself off as a diamond-!_

* * *

_A/N: This is the first of three oneshots (or at least that's the number I'm planning on at the moment) of Lila takedowns featuring one Jagged Stone! All of them are standalone stories, of course (aka not in the same timeline/universe), so this particular one is complete._

_As always, comments make my day!_


	2. Career Day

_a/n: The second oneshot! This one was inspired by stories I've seen where Marinette has Jagged Stone call out Lila's lies by coming in to school. I wanted to do that, but with a bit of a twist :)_

* * *

It was that time of the year again, when they talked about career paths and jobs to think about and explore at school. No one was expecting them to know _exactly_ what they were going to do, but it was a chance for them to learn about other jobs outside of the ones their parents had. Their teachers talked about different careers in the field they taught, and they had the occasional presenter come in to talk about less common jobs that the students might want to consider.

And of course, along with those presentations, they asked students to invite parents or friends of the family to come in and talk about their jobs. Marinette had already had her dad come in the previous year and her mom's job was pretty much the same, which meant that if she wanted to have someone come in, she would have to ask another adult.

Lila, as might be expected, was making a big deal about the whole thing. Her mom was too busy to come in, naturally, and her dad was traveling out of the country- he had wanted her to come along, but she had wanted to stay with her friends, of course. Then she had asked Ladybug, because as her best friend, Lila had thought that she might have a chance. Lila had thought of Ladybug because of Alya, she had told her captivated audience, because she and Alya were _such_ good friends and Lila had wanted to give Alya another chance to get an interview with the superhero since it had been a couple months since the last personal interview on the Ladyblog.

Unfortunately, Ladybug just couldn't spare the time to slip away from her regular life for a classroom presentation. That was a _huge_ disappointment, of course, but maybe she could try again another time!

Marinette rolled her eyes as she listened. Alya was assuring Lila that that was understandable and that she _really_ appreciated the attempt to get her an interview with Ladybug, and it was so sweet of her to try.

Just like always, Lila was claiming connections without anything to back it up and everyone was just lapping it up.

"I might ask Jagged Stone next, because I'm sure everyone would _love_ to meet with him," Lila gushed, and everyone exchanged excited looks. "I mean, it's hard to know if he'll be able to come, since he's so busy and is always coming in and out of Paris, but I want to try for all of you!"

"Who wants to bet that Jagged Stone will be 'out of town'?" Adrien asked, sidling up to Marinette's side. "I mean, there's probably going to be at least a week's worth of 'oh, he's trying to clear his schedule' before she tells the class that."

Marinette glanced to the side. Adrien looked pretty downcast, and it was no wonder _why_. Last year, he had tried so hard to get his father to come, only to be disappointed. This year, he had tried to ask again, even asking if maybe Nathalie could just bring Mr. Agreste's tablet in and he could just give a short talk from the comfort of his office, but it was a no-go from the start.

Bringing an adult to talk wasn't a requirement, of course, but Adrien was definitely was feeling like the odd one out.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Marinette agreed. She glanced over at Lila, who was being assured by Rose that surely Jagged would do his best to come in for her. "And then it'll be a last-minute thing, and she'll feel _so_ bad about letting everyone down-"

"-and everyone will rush over themselves to assure her that it's fine," Adrien finished. He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you're right. And if Jagged _is_ in town, then she's going to claim that he has an appointment or something that he can't reschedule." He let out a long breath, glancing away. "She's not going to be the only one not bringing someone in. Father said no, and Nathalie apparently has a meeting to go to at that time, too, so _she_ can't come."

Marinette felt bad for him. Having his adult figures being so flaky and unavailable, when Adrien was so eager to get that attention...that had to _stink_. Before she could try to comfort him, though, a thought struck her. "Wait, what about the Gorilla? He's bound to be free, right?"

Adrien worried his lip. "Yeah, but...Marinette, he can't talk. He's mute. There's no way that he could do a presentation."

"He could do a powerpoint!" Marinette pointed out. "With words on the slides. Then he wouldn't have to talk, just flip through the presentation. We wouldn't be able to do questions aside from yes or no ones, maybe, but that's fine. It might be worth asking."

Adrien had perked up, nodding. "Yeah! Okay, I'll ask and suggest that. I'll try not to get my hopes up because, well." He shrugged, and even though he was trying to hide it, Marinette could see the pain in his eyes. "My father's staff might be known for their punctuality when it comes to getting what _he_ wants done, but not when it comes to what _I_ want. The Gorilla is the best about that, though."

Marinette smiled as Adrien's enthusiasm returned. the light returning to his eyes as he considered how to ask the Gorilla. She was glad to be of help, of course, but now _she_ had to figure out who she was going to ask to come in. Madam Chamack was a possibility, if she could get Alec to cover for her, and Alya would probably be super-excited to get to talk to an established reporter and maybe pick up some tips, but...

She shot another look in Lila's direction, trying not to scowl as Lila fluffed her hair and smiled at her audience. Truth be told, Lila's lies had given her an idea. It might not work, but, well, if it did...

It was worth a try.

* * *

As expected, Lila sadly announced to the class five days before their class's parent presentations that while Jagged Stone had done his best to be in Paris for their career day, his manager just wouldn't let him change his schedule around. He sent his regrets and wished them a rock 'n roll day, of course, but he just couldn't make it.

And _also_ as expected, Lila shed crocodile tears over the fact that she now was the only person who wasn't going to have an adult coming in to present, only to have their other classmates rush to comfort her. It was understandable that she might have more trouble finding someone to could come in, because she hadn't been in the country long! Most of her contacts were scattered across the globe and had busy schedules, so they couldn't be expected to come in just for a classroom presentation. Because of time zones and busy schedules, none of them could Skype in either.

(Lila had glared at Marinette after she had made that (perhaps somewhat less than innocent) comment. Clearly she didn't appreciate someone trying to find a workaround to her lies and evasion.)

And then finally, _finally_, presentation day arrived.

"My presenter is going to be arriving late," Marinette told Ms. Bustier as soon as she arrived to class. "He'd like to go last, if that's all right?"

"That's fine," Ms. Bustier told her. "I think everyone else wants to do their presentation sooner rather than later so that they can get on with their day, so it actually works well. Are you sure that they'll be able to make it?"

Marinette nodded. "Yeah! Yeah, he'll probably arrive at school halfway through class and just wait in the hallway so that he doesn't interrupt, he said."

Ms. Bustier nodded in understanding, waving Marinette towards her seat as her attention moved on to the next couple adults entering the room. Marinette went, grinning at Adrien on her way.

The Gorilla had been more than happy to come in as Adrien's presenter, and Adrien had been over the moon when he told Marinette. Apparently his bodyguard was used to people not paying him much mind, so being asked was a real honor. He was happy, Adrien was happy, and Marinette was thrilled that her suggestion had turned out so well.

The day started out well, with a few parents starting the day off. Then there were a couple aunts and uncles, and then the Gorilla went. His normally stoic expression was clearly happy as he flipped through his presentation. A somewhat robotic voice read off the words on-screen for him, and he smiled even wider when his presentation ended and everyone applauded him.

Considering how long he had apparently worked for Mr. Agreste, Marinette wouldn't be surprised if he was used to going unappreciated.

There were two more presentations, and then it was Marinette's turn. She had texted her presenter as the previous person had wrapped up, and now she was watching as a shadow moved down the hallway towards the door. Everyone else turned to look as the handle turned, and then the door opened.

"Heya, kiddos!" Jagged Stone said cheerfully, sticking his head in. "Is this the right spot for my presentation?"

* * *

The great thing about Jagged Stone, Marinette reflected as "Uncle Jagged" very enthusiastically told the class about his first-ever CD, was that he was _really_ good at blatantly ignoring awkward situations and confusion and just plowing on like nothing was wrong.

And boy, were most of her classmates confused.

Marinette worked to keep a straight face as she glanced from Jagged Stone to the rest of her class, the audience full of puzzled faces. While the realization of what must have happened had clearly sunk in with some people- in front, Adrien was clearly trying not to look too amused and across the aisle, Chloe had clearly caught on and was sending quite smug glances back at Lila- everyone else still seemed to be hung up on the fact that Jagged Stone was in their classroom when Lila had said that he wouldn't be in the country at all.

Well. _Almost_ everyone else. In the back, Lila looked like she was torn between burning fury and terror. She had gone pale the moment that Jagged Stone had burst in, and now-

Well, now it was just a matter of time.

Marinette could almost see the thoughts running through Lila's head. There was no getting out of this, and Lila had to know that. As soon as Jagged Stone finished miming air riffs and headbanging his way through his presentation, there would be questions about Lila and her connection with him. Even if there wasn't time at the end for questions, there was no way for Lila to explain why Jagged Stone had come for Marinette after she had claimed that Jagged Stone couldn't make it, _especially_ considering that Jagged Stone hadn't acknowledged her at all. It wouldn't be long before the other students and the teachers would start looking a bit harder at all of Lila's other stories. And once _those_ stories fell apart...

Marinette was _not_ going to start rubbing her hands together and cackling. She was _not_. She was a superhero, not a super_villain_.

(Besides, Marinette had actually asked Jagged Stone to make sure that there _wouldn't_ be time for questions. They wouldn't be about his job, anyway, just about Lila's supposed connections to him, and- well, Marinette didn't want to end an otherwise lovely presentations with shouts and accusations. Jagged's presence was enough to set things in motion.)

Next to her, Jagged Stone was still going strong. Now he was showing off some of the different vocal techniques that he had been taught over the years, running through his clean, classical singing, to a belt, to a more gravelly tone, and then faux-opera. There were a few styles that Marinette had_ never_ heard him use in any of his songs, but clearly he practiced them on a regular basis.

"Ah, sometimes I get stuck in one style and forget how awesome it sounds when I mix it up and do other stuff," Jagged Stone said contentedly once he had finished with a few lower growls. "It's easy to get stuck in a particular, comfortable style of singing instead of switching it up, but I don't want my songs to sound _too_ similar, so it's good to practice and have the option to use different styles! I see different vocal coaches on a regular basis to practice and try to expand my range. Just like my instruments, my voice is a tool, too. Or maybe I could say it's more like a toolbox, and each style is a tool- and I want to have the best assortment of tools in my toolbox."

Marinette grinned. She could tell from the twitching of Jagged Stone's fingers that singing in the different styles had inspired a new song and he was itching to write it down. Clearly his hasty exit at the end of his presentation now wouldn't be just for show, and Marinette had to wonder how far he would actually get before giving in to the need to write his sudden burst of inspiration down.

If Jagged Stone lasted all the way to his waiting car, Marinette would count herself impressed.

"There are many things that are great about being a rock star," Jagged Stone continued, grinning widely as he started in on what definitely sounded like the wrap-up for his presentation. "The concerts, getting to travel, getting to meet all _sorts_ of cool and talented people- like Marinette here!- and being in a position where I can help get them the attention they deserve... it's all _very_ cool. But it's not all lights and hairspray and getting to sing my own songs on the worldwide stage."

Jagged Stone glanced over the class, eyes glimmering in excitement. Marinette tried not to frown in confusion. What did he have up his sleeve _now?_

"There's the tabloids, of course, and dealing with them is _never_ fun," Jagged Stone told them. "That, and sometimes people who've never met me like making up little details about my life to make it seem like we're close or something. I've seen that plenty before, and it's always because people tend to treat people that have connections- real or fake- differently, giving them their way." His eyes slid over the class, and Marinette could tell that more people had caught on to what was going on. Next to her, Alya had gone stiff. "Even if there's nothing to back those claims up."

There was a long pause.

"But luckily, I know all of you would be too smart to fall for someone like that!" Jagged Stone chirped, beaming out at the sea of frozen faces. "I wish more people were that smart. _So_ many ridiculous rumors about me wouldn't get anywhere if people just took a second to think about what they heard and consider if their 'source' is _actually_ reliable!" Jagged Stone made a face, then shrugged. "But honestly, as annoying as it is when I have to deal with paparazzi or stalker fans or people trying to claim connections to me just to make themselves look good, I wouldn't trade my job for anything else. Being able to make a living out of writing and singing my songs- well, not everyone gets so lucky, and I remind myself of that every day."

"Thank you, Mr. Stone," Ms. Bustier said politely, stepping forward. She glanced at the clock. "I'm afraid that we're out of time for questions, but I would like everyone to give a big round of applause for Mr. Stone and for all of the other adults who took time out of their mornings to come in and talk to us!"

Marinette grinned, joining in with her other classmates as they applauded all of their presenters. That had gone _perfectly_.

* * *

"Well, that was...interesting."

Marinette grinned as she turned around to come face-to-face with Adrien. He looked amused as he watched Jagged Stone dart off across the courtyard. Students spun to stare as he passed, whispering to each other in clear disbelief. "Yeah, he did a really good presentation, didn't he? I mean, he went off script a little bit at the end there, but other than that he was pretty well behaved."

Adrien glanced over at her, a slight bit of confusion washing over his features. "Yeah, I- I noticed that he didn't actually address any of Lila's claims. I kind of thought that he _would_, and that was why you asked him to come in."

Ah. So _that_ was why Adrien had come over. He seemed more curious than disapproving, though, so she was guessing that he liked her approach.

It was _taking the high road_ but with a little push. Just a small one.

"I thought about it. After all, Lila has shown that she likes to just come up with more lies to cover when she's been called out, so absolutely demolishing her lies so that she wouldn't be able to find an out... it was tempting." Marinette tugged on the end of one pigtail as her gaze trailed around. The rest of their class- minus Lila, who had immediately fled to the bathroom, and Chloe and Sabrina, who couldn't be bothered to join- were gathered in a huddle in the hallway. Marinette could spot more than a couple phones out, presumably _finally_ looking Lila's claims up for once. "But..."

"But?" Adrien prompted, and she could feel him stepping closer. "But you didn't."

"I decided that it could backfire. If anyone specifically called Lila out by asking about a specific story, they could be targeted by her getting akumatized again." Not that _anything_ could entirely stop Lila from getting akumatized- after all, Marinette was pretty sure that Lila actively _wanted_ to be akumatized, considering some of the timing and things that she had seen- but it might keep her rage from being _quite_ so targeted. "And, well- mostly I wanted to make people come to their senses in a way that couldn't really be as easily framed as malicious, because I know Lila _loves_ playing the victim. Maybe she wouldn't be able to get out of the lies, but she _could_ try to take one last swing at me and claim that I was bullying her with using a celebrity to individually call out her lies, and I didn't want her to be able to do that." That was what Marinette had been most worried about, actually. After all, that _would_ be a kind of over-the-top way to call Lila out, even if it had seemed necessary considering the fact that no one was listening to Marinette otherwise. That grain of truth might have been enough for Lila to take it and run with it.

Marinette wasn't about to allow that, so she had done her very best to _flatten_ that possibility. She had asked Jagged Stone to ignore everything she had ever mentioned about Lila and instead give a _completely_ normal presentation, no call-outs here, just a contact of hers who Marinette thought might give an interesting talk. If asked, she might bend the truth a little bit and claim that she had reached out to Jagged Stone before Lila had claimed that she was going to ask, instead of afterwards, but that would just be so that she wouldn't be demonized for actually making use of her connections for once.

"Nice thought," Adrien commented, sounding impressed. "That's _totally_ something that she would try to do, you're right. And now- well, I bet she'll still try, but no one with any sense will listen."

"That's the hope." Marinette worried her lip for a moment, wondering if maybe she should go down to the bathrooms too and make sure that Lila couldn't get akumatized, but the thought was abandoned after a moment. It would be too hard to transform unnoticed with so many people milling around between classes, and knowing about the possible akumatization might give Lila- and therefore Hawkmoth- too many clues about her identity. Instead, she flashed a quick smile at Adrien and took a step towards their next class. "Should we head to Civics before Madam Mendeleev decides that we're all skipping and starts handing out detentions?"

Adrien laughed. "Yeah, we probably should. Lead the way."

As Marinette headed down the hallway, she couldn't help but smile. Everything had gone off smoothly, and now- well, now she could look forward to a future with _far_ less manipulation from Lila.

And that sounded _fantastic_.


	3. The Last Lie

_a/n: I reference a few different sewing patterns/materials pretty much right away- if anyone wants to look them up, the first link when you google "game of thrones dragon scale fabric" shows both the dragon-scale fabric patterning and hints of the netting I mention, and "how to knit dragon scales" has a video that comes up that has the scales I had in mind (though the ones Marinette used might be a little smaller). _

_This is the last Jagged-related Lila-busting one-shot that I have planned at the moment, but I might come up with more in the future and if I do, they'll be added here. :)_

* * *

Marinette had spent the past _month_ getting everything absolutely perfect for Penny's birthday gift for Jagged Stone.

Shiny aluminum dragon scale beads shimmered and caught the light from between more muted scale-textured fabric on the slim-cut jacket. Uneven netting made the illusion of yet more scales, each texture carefully placed to make sure that it wouldn't impede Jagged Stone's guitar or piano playing. Marinette had gotten the idea from the _Game of Thrones_ wardrobe and added her own spin, and she couldn't deny that both it and the pants that she had made- with the same fabric scaling texture wrapping around in uneven patches and lines- were _absolute_ works of art.

(There had been _so many_ hours spent frustrated as she worked at the texture, trying to get it to come out right, and then the actual pieces had taken _ages_, but- well, it was all worth it, both for her portfolio and for the check that she had gotten to cover the commission from Penny,)

And now- in only a couple of hours- Jagged Stone would have his birthday party and get to open his presents. The party wasn't in Paris- Jagged Stone's tour had him enjoying lovely summer weather in New Zealand while Paris shivered under a layer of snow and ice- and so obviously Marinette couldn't attend, but Penny had promised to send a video of Jagged Stone's reaction to his presents.

(Marinette was _so_ glad that she- or rather, Penny- had paid for express shipping. Even with it, the package had only managed to arrive the day before, which was cutting it _far_ closer than Marinette had wanted.)

"Are you going to make a piece for yourself that uses some of the dragon scale mail stuff?" Tikki wanted to know as Marinette anxiously waited for the text from Penny. "Or that texture? It turned out _really_ cool."

"I think I'm going to give my fingers a break first," Marinette admitted with a laugh. "There was _so _much hand sewing on those pieces, my fingertips are pricked to bits. And it took up so much time- I haven't gone on any outings with my friends in forever, because I was trying to get that done. So I want to hang out with them a few times first, before everyone decides that I'm just flaking completely out on them, and then- yeah, I want to come up with _some_ design to play around with."

"They wouldn't think that you're a flake if you hadn't decided to keep the commission and your gift for Jagged Stone a secret," Tikki pointed out. "I can understand why you wouldn't show anyone pieces in progress, so that the design wouldn't get leaked, but you could have told them that you had _a_ commission for Jagged Stone, at least."

"And then everyone would be bugging me wanting to see it. No thanks." Marinette had considered it at first- after all, it would be a reminder to their class that she _did_ know Jagged Stone, thank-you-very-much, and maybe if she said that one of Lila's stories about Jagged was a lie, people should actually consider _listening_\- but then the cons had sunk in.

The pestering. The attempts to steal ("borrow") her sketchbook in hopes of getting a glimpse of the design. The snooping around her _room_\- which would be a _big_ problem now that she was also hiding the Miracle Box- to try to get a sneak peek at the piece. If she was _especially_ unlucky, Lila or Chloe stealing or destroying her sketchbook out of jealousy.

It would be easy enough to admit to the commission _after_ Jagged Stone had already gotten his present. That way, there would be no chances of sabotage. Then she could admit the reason why she hadn't been hanging out all month, everyone would stop complaining about her absence, and things would go back to normal.

(She _had_ told Chat Noir, after her partner had dropped by her balcony while she was working on the texturing for the fabric scales, but he had been sworn to secrecy in return for a few pain au chocolat. Hopefully the rest of Paris never found out how _incredibly_ easy he was to bribe.)

It was hard to do her homework with so much anticipation swirling around her gut, but Marinette forced herself through it. After all, as a superhero, she didn't exactly have time to spend just sitting around _not_ getting her homework done, and there had been some projects that had been pushed aside towards the end of her present-sewing spree that Marinette _had_ to get caught up on.

At least she had practice with shoving aside everything else in her life to focus on homework. Marinette had had to play catch-up after akuma attacks a few too many times for her to _not_ know how to do that.

Two hours later, her email beeped with a new message. Marinette shoved aside her Chemistry practice problems at once, reaching for her computer mouse and opening the email from Penny.

_Jagged LOVES_ _his pants and jacket! _the message read. _They're absolutely gorgeous! He's gone to change into them right away because he just couldn't wait to wear them, so don't be surprised if you see a picture or two floating around on the Internet before long! Thank you so much for all of your hard work- I knew it was a fantastic idea to commission you!_

Marinette had to laugh as she clicked on the video link and it started to play. That was _so_ very Jagged, to be too excited about his new outfit to be able to wait.

Onscreen, Jagged Stone was opening a few presents, probably from his family and staff considering that they had been brought along on tour and weren't just waiting for Jagged Stone at his home studio. Marinette could tell the moment that Jagged spotted her present to him, because he lunged across the remainder of the pile to pounce on it at once. The wrapping paper- courtesy of Penny, because it was just more convenient to ship _without_ extra packaging- went flying at once, the box was opened, and Jagged Stone crowed in delight as he pulled out the pants. A hand- Penney's by the look of it- slid another present to Jagged before he could run off and change into the pants. He opened that one eagerly, too- Marinette could just hear Penny over the music of the party telling him that she had commissioned her- and positively _rocketed_ out of his seat with glee at the sight of the jacket.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Jagged Stone exclaimed, He waved the pants and jacket at the camera. "I'm gonna go change! These are too amazing to _not_ be wearing this very instant!"

Marinette laughed again as the video cut off. She closed the window, only to spot a new email from Penny, with a series of photos. Jagged Stone was wearing his new outfit, posing in it with the world's largest grin on his face.

She could breathe a sigh of relief, at least- everything fit just like it was supposed to. The jacket sat correctly, and the pants were a perfect fit, slim-cut but with enough room for him to move around and rock out. With one more grin, Marinette emailed Penny back, asking her to wish Jagged a happy birthday from her. With the email sent, Marinette could only beam up at the ceiling.

_Mission complete_. She could breathe easier now, knowing for sure that Jagged loved the pieces she made for him.

She couldn't _wait_ to tell Alya.

* * *

"I can't believe you know the designer that did all of the _Game of Thrones_ costumes, Lila! That's _so_ cool!"

"Oh, what _now_," Marinette grumbled as she recognized Alya's voice. Couldn't she go _one_ morning without hearing another new lie from Lila? Just _once?_ "And why is she trying to claim a connection to a costume designer? I'm the only one that would be _really_ interested in something like that."

Tikki was frowning as she peered out of Marinette's purse. "Marinette, she mentioned _Game of Thrones. _Isn't that the TV show where you got the idea for the dragon-scale patterning from?"

Marinette's stomach _dropped_. In a heartbeat, she knew _exactly_ what Lila must be trying to claim. How _dare_ she try to take credit for getting Jagged the jacket and pants that Marinette had spent _hours_ slaving over, stealing Marinette's accomplishment away-

-but _wait_. There was no _way_ that would stand. Maybe the paparazzi and the world had gotten a glimpse of Jagged Stone's birthday gift outfit already, but he probably hadn't felt like answering press questions on his birthday. If she knew Jagged Stone like she thought she did, he would no doubt gush to the press where, exactly, he had gotten the pieces, and who had made them, probably within the next day.

Marinette grinned. Lila had picked the wrong lie to tell for _sure_ this time.

"Marinette, guess what?" Alya exclaimed as soon as Marinette stepped through the door to the classroom. Just as Marinette had suspected, everyone was clustered around Lila at the front of the room. Even Adrien, for once, but he seemed _far_ more interested in the pictures that were being shown than he was in Lila's story. "Guess who Lila knows? She knows this really amazing costume designer who did a whole bunch of the _Game of Thrones_ costumes, and she commissioned this _really_ awesome jacket and pants combo from that designer for Jagged Stone for his birthday!"

"He clearly loves it if he ran off to change into it before the end of the party," Rose gushed. She beamed at Lila. "That was a really great idea for a gift, Lila!"

"Yes, well, it was a _bit_ pricey even with my connections, since of _course_ I wouldn't ask my friend to work for free, but since he and I are friends, I wanted to get a nice gift for him," Lila told them. "And since he has Fang, well- crocodile scales and dragon scales are pretty similar, right?"

Alya nudged Marinette. "Isn't it cool that she knows such a fantastic designer?" The implied _be nice, maybe she can introduce you_ hung heavy in the air. "That jacket- it's _incredible_. I bet she has a lot of tricks and tips about design and sewing!"

Lila nodded, her hair bouncing. "Yeah, she's _super_ talented! _And_ I was lucky enough to actually get to help her with the jacket when she came through Paris a couple weeks back! I didn't do a _lot_, of course, because I didn't have the time, but it was _super_ cool to see how the scales were made." Her eyes slid sideways to Marinette, a silent challenge that she was _so_ sure that Marinette wouldn't take. "If you wanted, Marinette, I could maybe teach you some of the things that she taught me."

…yeah, okay, Marinette was _not _going to stand here and pretend to play nice with Lila, not even for the few hours it would no doubt take for Jagged Stone to tell the press who, exactly, had made the pants and jacket for him. Not when Lila was actively claiming credit like this, claiming that she had made part of the outfit when it was all _Marinette's_ work.

_Whelp_. Time for her to step off of the high road and for the gloves to come off.

"That would be _so_ nice, Lila," Marinette crooned, keeping her eyes on Lila's surprised face. Then her eyes narrowed. "Except for the fact that it's all _complete_ bullshit."

There were gasps at that, and Marinette could feel Alya's hand tighten around her arm in a silent reprimand. Lila gasped, pressing a hand to her chest as though deeply offended. "_Marinette!_ I was just trying to be nice, and _this_ is how you-"

"Oh, save me the sob story." Marinette's eyes slid around the group and caught on Max and Markov, who was out and clearly listening. A conversation from a couple weeks back tickled at the back of her mind, and Marinette went for it. "Markov, you record video of things you see to review later, right?"

"I do!" Markov chirped, clearly pleased that she remembered. "And I usually retain the footage for one to five hours, depending on how common or uncommon a social interaction was."

"Can you retain the story Lila just told for a bit longer?" Marinette asked, ignoring how Alya's hold was getting tighter and tighter. "For a day, maybe."

"Of course!"

"Mari_nette_," Alya hissed through gritted teeth. "Cut it out, Lila is trying to be-"

"After all, Jagged Stone is never quiet about the gifts that he likes or about giving credit where credit is due," Marinette continued, brushing Alya's hand off of her arm without sparing it a glance. "So I'm sure he'll tell the press about who _actually_ gave him those gifts within twenty-four hours. So I'd like to have the footage of right now to make sure that your story doesn't _magically_ change between now and then."

Lila blanched, then pasted her usual expression back on before anyone else could notice. "Actually, I asked him to keep it on the down-low right away- after all, I didn't want people flooding my other friend with requests, because she's starting work on wardrobe for a new movie soon. Besides, I don't need any public thank-yous. I know that he likes my gift, and that's enough."

Marinette didn't even bother hiding her eye roll that time. "_Sure_. And I'm the Queen of France." Brushing past the group, she headed over to her desk, ignoring the stares of her classmates.

She couldn't be surprised about that, really. After all, while Marinette had called out Lila's lies on a fairly regular basis before, it had always been more of a one-off comment, not- well, not her clearly calling Lila a baldfaced liar.

"That is _not_ okay, Marinette," Alya hissed as she passed Marinette's seat. Apparently she was headed up to sit with Lila instead for the day. "I know you don't like Lila, but-"

"I'll accept 'sorry I didn't listen to you, Marinette' apologies in the form of fabric store gift cards once you realize that I'm right," Marinette told her instead of listening to Alya's scolding again. Alya scoffed.

"Well, when Lila is proved right you can apologize to her for not listening and to us for having to deal with this nonsense by taking us all out to lunch!" Alya shot back. "Lila loves this little seafood place a couple blocks away. I'm feeling hungry for their salmon bake already!"

"Don't hold your breath for it," Marinette muttered, but Alya had already flounced off, clearly entirely convinced that she was right.

_Well_. Marinette _had_ more or less been kidding about the gift cards- after all, her allowance plus the money that she got from babysitting and commissions meant that Marinette wasn't exactly scrounging for money to buy the materials that she wanted for her projects- but if Alya was going to counter her joking suggestion with a completely serious response, then Marinette would gladly welcome a little extra fabric money.

Marinette turned back to the front, ignoring the looks that she was getting from the others around the room. Oddly enough, Chloe and Sabrina weren't sneering at her- in fact, they seemed to be hunched over Sabrina's tablet, which had the pictures of Jagged Stone pulled up on it. Chloe was tracing part of the picture, saying something quietly to Sabrina, and Marinette had to wonder what they were talking about. It wasn't as though the jacket was Chloe's style at all, so why were they finding it so interesting?

And then Marinette's gaze slid further around, and she practically had a heart attack when she saw Adrien turned around to face her, his chin propped up on his arms on top of her desk and his eyes sparkling.

"Hi, Marinette!" Adrien chirped, sounding incredibly cheerful and not at all bothered by Marinette abandoning the (incredibly ineffective) high road in favor of- well, calling out the bad guys. He grabbed his tablet, nudging it onto her desk. "I was looking at the picture of Jagged Stone's new jacket and- well, maybe it's not the highest-resolution photo in the world, but I thought I noticed your signature on it, like you did on the hat. Was Jagged Stone's outfit something you made?"

Next to him, Nino startled, glancing up from his notebook and back at Marinette.

"Yeah, I made it," Marinette told him, unable to hide her grin. Adrien had noticed her signature! He had looked closely enough at the jacket to notice it threaded in amongst all of the other patterns and textures going on. "Penny commissioned me for the jacket, and then I made the pants as a gift to go along with it. And I _was_ going to tell people about it today, since I didn't want the news getting out early and spoiling the surprise, but Little Miss Lies-A-Lot decided to throw a wrench in that plan, apparently."

Adrien winced, then reached out to pat her hand comfortingly. "Well, at least you know that that lie isn't going to last long."

"Yeah," Marinette agreed. It was the light at the end of the tunnel, at long last. "Thank goodness."

* * *

Marinette headed back to school after lunch feeling _much_ less excited about going there than she had that morning.

Maybe every passing hour brought her closer to the time when Jagged Stone would mention to the press where his gift had come from, but _ugh_ were those hours ever dragging. Maybe Adrien knew the truth- and Nino did now too, since he had overheard her and Adrien talking about the pieces and the work that had gone into them and other possible applications of the dragon-scale patterning- but the rest of her classmates were apparently convinced that she was being unnecessarily mean to Lila and were acting accordingly.

(Marinette _really_ liked the idea of scaled boots. She would have to poke through thrift shops for a base shoe, probably, but when they were finished? It would be _killer_.)

"Cheer up, Marinette, maybe Jagged Stone has said something already!" Tikki chirped when Marinette sighed again, her footsteps still absolutely dragging. "You know it's possible, since you were too busy helping in the bakery for the last part of lunch break to be able to check!"

"But it's not _likely_," Marinette pointed out. "I _did_ check at the start of break, after all. Add in the time zone differences and the fact that Jagged is probably moving to a new place for his tour, and what are the chances?" She sighed. "And now I'll have to deal with Lila's new conspiracy theory about why I got so ticked off about the pants and jacket for the rest of the afternoon."

Lila's conspiracy theory, which Marinette had overheard Lila telling their classmates just before lunch and which was possibly one of the most _maddening_ things about this whole mess, the thing that had made her go from being willing to wait the whole thing out to being more than a little impatient. Lila had told them that _she_ thought that Marinette had probably wanted to claim for the credit for the jacket, because she was jealous of Lila's connection to Jagged Stone and wanted the attention for once. The tantrum-throwing, Lila had continued loftily, was probably just because Lila had told the truth before she could start spreading her lie.

_Ugh_.

Tikki giggled at that. "Yes, but just imagine the look on Lila's face when she realizes that you _were _actually the one to make the pieces! She'll be _so_ shocked!"

Marinette certainly _hoped_ so. It had taken everything in her not to turn around, march up to Lila, and inform her that _actually, I DID make that outfit, and I have the receipts and progress photos to prove it!_

She _could_ have. But Lila would shove right back, and Marinette _really_ hadn't felt like getting into another argument, not when she would get proven right without wasting her breath.

At least Marinette had Adrien to keep her sane. He knew the truth, just like Marinette, and understood why that particular story had been the straw to break the camel's back. He had wanted to know all about the process of making the jacket, and Marinette had been happy to comply. She even had in-progress shots, which meant that by the time classes let out, Nino had been convinced, too. He had been furious on her behalf, but had agreed that maybe it would be best to wait for Jagged to make some sort of comment instead of trying to argue with everyone else.

(After all- well, Marinette didn't want to risk seeing doubt in her friends' eyes if she tried to tell the truth and told them that she made the pieces. That- that would just _hurt_.)

With one last sigh- ugh, an akuma right now wouldn't be so bad, at least then she wouldn't have to listen to Lila 'answering' questions about what getting an on-set peek of TV shows was like- Marinette headed into school and up to the classroom.

Oddly enough, despite the fact that class was about to start, there were a lot of people missing. Alya wasn't back yet, or a lot of the other girls. _Lila_ was there, though, and she smirked at Marinette as she came through the door. Clearly she was still riding the high of having gotten a reaction out of Marinette earlier.

Marinette smirked right back as she slid into her seat, Tikki's words coming back to her. Lila could gloat all she wanted, but that didn't change the fact that _Marinette_ had made those pieces and the truth _would_ come out. Even if it _was_ taking longer than Marinette would have liked.

She was just being impatient, honestly. After sitting through _months_ of Lila's nonsense, one day more was really nothing.

The afternoon bell rang, and Adrien twisted around in his seat to give Marinette a questioning look, glancing around at the empty seats before quirking an eyebrow. Marinette could only shrug in return.

After all, she didn't know where everybody was, either. Normally, she would have guessed that people had gotten distracted by a Lila-story in the cafeteria, but considering that Lila actually _was_ in class, that clearly couldn't be it. She _would_ suggest that Adrien ask Nino since Alya was his girlfriend, except Nino wasn't back yet, either.

..._odd_.

Before Marinette could spare much more of a thought to wonder where in the world everyone was, the door burst open and their missing classmates tumbled in. They practically _swarmed_ Marinette's desk, pushing Alya to the front to drop a gift card in front of her.

Marinette blinked.

"Wait, what's going on?" Lila demanded, her voice shrill. "Why- why are you giving her a gift card?"

"_Because_, Lila," Alya started, her voice absolutely _dripping_ ice, "_Marinette_ was the one that made Jagged Stone's new outfit. The jacket was commissioned from her by Penny Rolling, and the pants were a gift directly from her."

"But- no, I already told you guys that she would claim that," Lila said with a titter. All of it came out too pinched, too high-pitched, too _fake_. "I knew Marinette would claim-"

"_Jagged Stone_ told the press who it was from himself. Marinette never claimed anything." Alya cast a disparaging look at Lila. "Now I have to wonder how much of what you've told us is a lie. All of it, probably. Did you even _leave_ Paris when you tried to claim that you were out traveling around the world?"

"The packages must have gotten mixed up," Lila tried, her voice climbing higher yet. Their other classmates were sending her dirty looks now, too. "The tags on them, I'm sure that they must have been switched-"

Chloe scoffed from her seat. "Right, and Marinette's signature just _magically_ managed to jump from the pieces she made and onto your gifts, right? What a lame little liar."

…okay, Marinette was officially going to count herself impressed that Chloe had actually noticed her signature, because she had hidden it pretty well. _That_ must have been what she and Sabrina had been looking at in the pictures earlier.

Maybe it wasn't that big of a surprise after all. Chloe had seemed annoyed by Lila's grand claims as of late, and Marinette wouldn't be surprised to hear that Chloe had wanted to discredit Lila and have her spot as the most connected person in the class back.

For once, Lila fell silent. Her face had gone pale. Alya spared her one more glance before rounding the desk and sitting in her regular seat.

"We all chipped in the price of what we would have ordered at the cafe," Alya explained as the rest of the students dispersed to their seats and Ms. Bustier headed up to the back to collect Lila, probably to march her straight to the office. "Food _and_ drinks, and then- well, I at least threw in a bit extra, because we've been giving you a lot of grief about the whole Lila thing."

Marinette grinned, picking up the gift card. An amount was scrawled on the back, and- _wow_, it was _not_ a small amount. Marinette was willing to bet that more people than just Alya had put in extra. Either that, or people had _very_ expensive tastes. "Thank you."

"It's our apology to you. We should have listened to you earlier." Alya looked sheepish. "I was just too excited about all of the potential scoops that I could get from Lila, I didn't stop to fact-check and really think about what she was saying. I'll do better in the future, I promise."

Marinette could only beam. This was what she had been waiting for.

"So…" Alya started, leaning forward with her eyes alight. Marinette quirked an eyebrow back at her. "You dressed _Jagged Stone _and made _the_ coolest jacket and pants that I've ever seen! What was that like? Nino says that you have progress photos- can I see them before Ms. Bustier gets back from the office? I want to hear all about it!"

With a laugh, Marinette pulled out her phone and swiped to the photos that she had taken. "Of course! So a couple months ago, Penny approached me about designing something…"

Maybe it would take a couple weeks for them to really get past all of this and for their friendship to fully recover, but Marinette was confident that they could. Alya had no doubt learned a few lessons about listening to Marinette, and something told Marinette that Lila was going to get in no small amount of trouble, potentially even getting kicked out of their school. Even if she didn't, Lila's power was gone. No one would believe her now.

And that was how it was meant to be.


End file.
